China, Russia, USA, Pakistani army, Oppn or inflation? Know what led to Imran Khan’s ouster
Prime Minister Imran Khan dissolved Pakistan’s National Assembly and called for new elections on Sunday, blocking a no-confidence vote that was widely expected to remove him from office and plunging the country into a constitutional crisis.
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The extraordinary move deepened the political turmoil that has gripped Pakistan since Khan, the international cricket-turned-politician, lost the backing of the country’s powerful military and a coalition of opposition parties.
Here is why Imran Khan led govt miserably failed to retain power
All-time-high Inflation in ‘Naya Pakistan’
Imran Khan had gained power by promising to create a ‘New Pakistan’ but the country’s low growth rate and the pandemic posed a big hurdle. In the year 2019, Pakistan asked for a loan of $ 6 billion from the IMF. At the same time, due to political instability, the Pakistani rupee has also gone into the abyss. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to $ 14.9 billion in mid-March. Imran had promised during the election campaign that he would not take loans from foreign countries, but his promise proved to be hollow and the country is begging for loans from China, Russia and Saudi Arabia besides the IMF.
Imran Khan & Pakistani army never shared cordial relationship
His relationship with the army was extremely strong during Imran Khan’s early tenure. Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa stood completely by Imran Khan. Taking advantage of this, Imran tried to eliminate the opposition politically. After this Imran Khan thought that he should rule Pakistan for a long time and he blew the bugle of rebellion against his ‘master’ General Bajwa.
General Bajwa announced the name of the new chief of the very powerful intelligence agency ISI, which was deferred by Imran Khan. Imran wanted the then ISI Chief General Faiz Hamid to remain but the army did not accept it. Actually, Imran wanted that General Faiz, who gave him power, should be made the new army chief in place of Bajwa so that it can be taken advantage of in the elections to be held in the year 2023. For this reason, he wanted to keep General Faiz, but eventually he had to bow down to General Bajwa.
His own camp launched a tirade against him
In the elections held in the year 2018, Imran Khan’s party PTI emerged as the largest party and with the help of allies crossed the magic figure of 171 in the House. During this ISI helped him a lot in garnering majority. Meanwhile, after the army has become neutral, now the opposition has presented a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan. According to Pakistani media, the number of MPs of opposition parties has now reached around 200. There are also about 25 rebel MPs of Imran Khan’s party. Imran Khan removed his close friend Pervez Elahi from the post of Punjab CM to save power, but his bet also does not seem to be working. Imran’s ally MQMP has severed ties, which has 7 MPs.
So far, only 3 Prime Ministers have been able to rule more than 4 years in Pakistan, which was formed after separation from India in 1947. There have been 19 prime ministers in Pakistan so far. This does not include the caretaker prime minister.
Pakistan PM Imran ‘blames US’
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has revealed that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu had sent a threatening message to him through Pakistan's envoy Ambassador Asad Majeed.
"US had sent a threatening message through Pakistan's envoy," Dawn quoting Imran Khan reported. During his remarks that were televised, Imran Khan told them that when the National Security Council (NSC) had condemned the involvement of an external force in no-trust resolution, counting (of votes on the motion) had become "irrelevant".
He said that US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu had reportedly in a meeting with Ambassador Asad Majeed warned there could be implications if he survived the opposition's no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.
Brief history
Nawaz Sharif has been PM for 3 times till now and has ruled for a total of 9 years, which is the highest. After this there is the name of Benazir Bhutto who was the PM of Pakistan more than once. Apart from Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and PPP leader Yusuf Raza Gilani was the only PM for 4 years at a time. Many times in the history of Pakistan, the army has revolted and captured power. The present government is also called hybrid government in which the army is ruling behind the scenes. Ibrahim Choudhary is the only prime minister in Pakistan who lost the no-confidence motion in 1957. He remained in power only for two months.
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-PTC News
